After the Pain: Naruto
by Ramrikai
Summary: Naruto monologues at Jiraiya's memorial shrine after confronting Nagato, giving us a glimpse of his feelings. Inspired by the scene in the middle of episode 175 before Naruto gets his hero's welcome. One-shot.


****Summary: Naruto monologues at Jiraiya's memorial shrine after confronting Nagato, giving us a glimpse of his feelings. Inspired by the scene in the middle of episode 175 before Naruto gets his hero's welcome. One-shot.****

**I own nothing. Naruto isn't mine. Kishimoto owns it all. All I've done is expound upon what has already been established.**

Formatting Scheme: _Thought_ ; _"Flashback speech"_ ; "Normal speech"

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><p>"Hey, Ero-sennin. It's been a while. Sorry I haven't visited lately. So much has happened ... I don't even know where to start."<p>

"_You're my son."_

"You knew, didn't you? You knew he was my dad. Why didn't you tell me that the Fourth Hokage was my dad?! Even now I still find it hard to believe! But like I told him, I'm the Fourth Hokage's son. I can deal."

"_He was once my master ... which would make us sibling disciples."_

"I fought Pain today. Konan, Yahiko, and ... and Nagato. He destroyed the village, but I beat him. I'm a sage now, just like you! I almost destroyed everything though ..."

"_Naruto-kun."_

"Pain. He had me trapped. Pinned by those rods, but Hinata ... She tried to ..."

"_This time ... I'm going to save you, Naruto-kun."_

"When I thought he had killed her ..."

"_HINATA!"_

"I almost set the fox free. I was in so much pain. I was so angry and lost. But that's when Dad showed up! He fixed the seal. He told me that he believed in me, and that was why he gave me the fox. Not many people have said that to me."

"_I will believe in you, Uzumaki Naruto."_

"Nagato said that to me too when I talked with him, and right after that he used this crazy jutsu to bring back everyone that had died today!"

"_Naruto-kun."_

"Oh! I was told something else today too. Hinata ... she said ... before she tried to free me from Pain, she said that she ... loves me."

"_You changed me, Naruto-kun! ... That is why I am not afraid to die, if it means I can protect you! Because I love you, Naruto-kun."_

"Hinata ... she is the first person to ever say that to me. The very first one! I'm still trying to get my head around that bit. She loves me. Is ... is that why she always seems so nervous? Is she only like that around me? But she's always been like that ... hasn't she? That would mean that she ... AHHHH! I'm so confused! I don't know what to do!"

"_I won't let you hurt Naruto-kun anymore!"_

"You should have seen her though, Ero-sennin! She was amazing! She pulled out this crazy jutsu that turned her hands into lions! She was able to stun Pain's last body and break half of those rods that had me trapped! If Nagato wasn't so strong she totally would have beat him ... I hope she's okay. Last time I was in Sage Mode, I could tell that she was alive and that Sakura was with her, so she should be alright, but she almost died ... she was so still ... and the blood ... the Kyuubi. She almost died just to save me. She did it because she loves me. I ... I don't know what I'm supposed to do. For so long, it's always been Sakura, but now ... I just don't know. Hinata has given me something precious, but ... I need time to figure this out."

"_This time ... I pray that you will be the blossom of hope that never wilts."_

"Anyway. Konan left me with these paper flowers. I figured you'd like them since she was your student, just like me. And your book. This book helped me convince Nagato. I finally met the person who inspired my namesake! You, Dad, and Nagato and Konan. All of you believe that I'm gonna figure out how to make peace. I still don't know how to do it, but I swear I will. I swear on my nindo that I will find a way. Thank you for everything, Jiraiya-sensei."

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><p><strong>To any and all who read this, my very first fanfic, please R&amp;R. Positive, negative, flaming rants, I'll take any and all comments you may have.<strong>

**EDIT: Fixed some typos that an IRL friend, whom I shall refer to as "TooTall", pointed out.**

**EDIT AGAIN: Sorry! This is the last one, I swear! No more typo fixes! If this story gets another update, it will be to post my scrapped scenes/renditions of this one-shot to get feedback on them as well. I had originally intended this to be a back-and-forth between a number of Naruto and Hinata POV's, but ultimately decided to do two separate one-shots for each of them. Hinata's POV is still in the works.**


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